1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to video gaming systems and related networks, video gaming software, and online fantasy sports.
2. Related Technology
Fantasy sports leagues have become of increased popularity and are associated with virtually every sport played, not only in the United States, but also internationally. A fantasy sport (also known as rotisserie, roto, or fairy-tale sport; or owner simulation) is a game where fantasy owners build a fantasy team that competes against other fantasy teams managed by real-life fantasy team owners based on the statistics generated by individual real-life athletes, such as professional or collegiate athletes, or real-life teams of a real-life professional sport. Probably the most common variant converts statistical performance of real-life athletes into points that are compiled and totaled according to fantasy settings. Typically a fantasy team owner manages a fantasy roster listing real-life sport athletes selected, which are selected by the fantasy team owner in a fantasy draft. These point systems are typically simple enough to be manually calculated by a “league commissioner”, but more commonly use computer accounting of real-life athlete statistics that occur in actual real-life professional or collegiate sports. In fantasy sports there is typically the ability for each fantasy team owner to trade, cut, and resign players, like a real-life sports team owner. In such fantasy leagues the fantasy owner is typically not an athlete or actual team manager, but rather, creates a fantasy team of real-life athletes and competes against the athlete selections of other fantasy team owners in the same fantasy league.
It is estimated by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) that 16 million adults in the U.S., age 18 to 55, play fantasy sports. Fantasy sports is also popular throughout the world with leagues for professional, regional, and collegiate football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, soccer, auto racing, wrestling, cricket, and other sports. Both professional and collegiate level sports have fantasy leagues associated thereto. Several examples of various fantasy formats are illustrated in Appendix A of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/869,831. As illustrated in the examples of Appendix A of the '831 provisional application, the rules of play may be customized, in some instances, by members of a league, such as a league manager.
An example of a football format is also illustrated by the following FSTA example:
How to Play Fantasy Football                When they devised the term “armchair quarterback” they certainly had the game of fantasy football in mind.        As the general manager, the fantasy football league owner assembles his team of stars and scrubs, making sure he has the right mix of passing, rushing and kicking. In some leagues, the fantasy general manager even has to assemble a defense. Then as the team's coach, the fantasy league owner has to pick the right starting lineup for that week's games, making sure that his best players aren't sitting on the bench. For anyone interested in starting a league, all you need are a few basic rules to get going. The beauty of fantasy football is that there really isn't any set guideline you MUST follow. It's your fantasy league, so fantasize any way you want. The main thing is to enjoy NFL games and enjoy them the best way you know how.        
And that way is through a fantasy football league.
Okay, now let's take it step by step and get you started.
Step 1                Assemble a league of football owners who are willing to wheel and deal throughout the course of the NFL season. There is no set number, mind you, but 12 teams is great and 16 teams is better. You can certainly form leagues that are bigger and smaller than that, but make sure that you have an even-number of teams because each week you go head-to-head with another team.        
Step 2                Elect a commissioner. The commissioner should be somebody who every team owner respects—you know, someone you'd let date your sister. The commissioner, who most likely also owns a team in the league, is responsible for the league constitution, bylaws and all final decisions.        
Step 3                Setting the rules for your league is very important. There are many variations to the game and scoring systems for fantasy football are as different as the NFL and the CFL. Make sure all rules are set in stone before the draft is held. Some leagues give six points to any player who scores a touchdown, whether it be from rushing, passing or receiving. In that scenario, the quarterback and the wide receiver each get six points for a touchdown pass, making it ideal to have both Brett Favre and Antonio Freeman on your fantasy team. Other leagues give six points for a rushing touchdown and just three to the QB and three to the wide receiver on a touchdown pass. Some leagues also give bonus points for individual statistics, like three points for 100-yards rushing, 100-yards receiving or 300-yards passing. Bonus points can also be given for the length of a run, pass, catch or kick. The size of rosters also varies from league to league. Most leagues have rosters of 15 to 17 players: Three quarterbacks, four to five running backs, four to five wide receivers, two tight ends and two kickers. Most leagues start just seven players each week: One QB, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end and one kicker. The accumulative points of one team's starters are matched up against the points of another team and the end result is either a victory or a loss. There are no weighted statistics in fantasy football, just head-to-head records. Some leagues also use defense in their scoring system, drafting either one defensive player and starting him each week or drafting an entire defensive team and getting scoring from that team for any defensive touchdown or safety. Head coaches or teams can also be figured in the mix of things, with teams drafting one head coach and getting anywhere from one to three points for each victory that coach attains during the year.        
Step 4                Have a draft. Players are usually acquired by using a draft, similar to what the NFL does. In the draft, team owners select any player they want and draft for 15-17 rounds to fill out their rosters. However, unlike the NFL, the draft is held in reverse order for the even-number rounds to make the league more balanced. For instance, in a 10-team league the draft order would be 1 through 10, with the 10th team having the first pick of the second round and going back up in reverse order. In that scenario, the first team to pick wouldn't select again until the 20th pick, but would then start the third round with the 21st selection. Some leagues also like to draft their players the same way they do in Rotisserie Baseball. With that in mind, players are acquired by using a bidding system where players are acquired for a dollar amount. Each team would have an imaginary $260 budget (or other fake cash figure) and players would be acquired by using that salary cap. In that scenario, Terrell Davis could go for $80.        
Step 5                Set the schedule. League schedules are set up so that every team plays every other team at least once, and divisions are set up according to the league size. In leagues of 10 teams, only two divisions are needed and the top two teams in each division qualify for the playoffs. In leagues of 12 or more, three or four divisions are needed. Either way, the playoffs usually consist of the top four teams, with those teams meeting during Week 16 of the regular season. The Super Bowl is then held on the final week of the regular season—Week 17 this year—so that all of the NFL players are eligible for the fantasy football teams. Check out our schedule page in this issue for more help.        
Step 6                Compile scores. Fantasy football is the one fantasy game in which you can actually count up your own scores; you wouldn't dare try that in baseball or basketball (or shouldn't, anyway). There are also several free services on the Internet that will run your league in exchange for the traffic your league will provide. Also, there are a number of software products that will help you run your league.        
Step 7                Transactions. Teams can continue to trade throughout the season and teams can also pick up free agents anytime during the year. Leagues will need to form some type of setup so that the teams with the worst record get first shot at the free agents. Otherwise it's a first-come, first-serve basis. Some leagues have unlimited transactions, while others assign points for transactions, and you bid on free agents. The high bid gets the player, but you have to be careful not to use up your points too early in the season.        
Step 8                Have fun. That's what it's all about.The FSTA also provides the following example of a baseball fantasy league:        
How to Play Fantasy Baseball                Every day, more and more sports fans are becoming familiar with the rules and regulations of fantasy baseball. For anyone interested in starting a league, it's as easy as one-two-three. All you have to do is follow a few flexible rules and take it from there. The beauty of fantasy baseball is that there really isn't any set guideline you MUST follow. It's your fantasy league, so fantasize any way you want. The main thing is to enjoy baseball and enjoy fantasy baseball. That's it. OK, let's take it step by step and get you started.        
Step 1                Assemble a handful of baseball fanatics who are willing to wheel and deal throughout the course of the baseball season. There is no set number, mind you, but 10 teams is great and 12 teams is perfect. Anything less than eight makes it a league filled with all-stars, while anything more than 12 is pushing the impossible. Make sure you find guys who are just as nuts about baseball as you are, and it will help immensely if a couple of the players have been in a fantasy league before.        
Step 2                Elect a commissioner. He or she will be responsible for compiling weekly statistics of every team, and can be called the High Exalted Commissioner for Life or something of that ilk. The commissioner should be somebody that every team owner respects because he/she will be responsible for the league constitution, bylaws and all final decisions. One of the commissioner's responsibilities is writing the league newsletter, which goes out every week or two with complete standings and statistics, or typing into the computer if it's an on-line league.        
Step 3                One of your first big decisions will be to decide whether to mix players from the American and National leagues or to compete with players from just one league. If you mix leagues, the number of teams can be greater than 10 or 12. Using just one league has the advantage of making every owner use stars, backups and scrubs. Mixing the leagues, of course, provides enough superstars for every team.        
Step 4                Each team is composed of 23 players taken from the active rosters of the NL and/or AL teams. Each team's roster usually consists of two catchers, one first baseman, one second baseman, one shortstop, one third baseman, one middle infielder (second baseman or shortstop), one corner infielder (first baseman or third baseman), one designated hitter (for AL leagues, or call him a utility player for NL leagues), five outfielders and nine pitchers. The pitching breakdown is usually five starters and four relievers, although that isn't written in stone.        
Step 5                Players are acquired in one of two ways—and here's one of the slight differences between Rotisserie baseball and fantasy baseball. Generally, fantasy baseball uses a draft to select teams, much like the NFL does. Each team is responsible for filling its 23 roster positions, but the owners can pick any player at any position whenever their turn in the draft comes up. Some leagues hold drafts in January and February and draft as many as 40 players per team, and then cut down to 23 by Opening Day. Other leagues pick after Opening Day and fill their 23-man roster through the draft, using only players that made major-league rosters. To pick the draft order for an inaugural season, cut cards, draw straws or do something equally scientific. Rotisserie baseball is different in that teams are formed using an open auction to select players. Each team is assigned $260 to allocate for player salaries. Unlike the first method of drafting, the order of auctioning players doesn't matter. The minimum first bid is $1. Bidding then proceeds around the room at minimum increments of $1 until the player is purchased by one team owner. The process is repeated until every team has a full complement of 23 position players. With this method, each team has to stay within its budget.        
Step 6                Team rankings are tabulated using four or more offensive categories and four pitching categories. The offensive statistics most often used are composite team batting average, total home runs, total runs batted in and total stolen bases, with runs scored the fifth-most popular choice. The pitching categories are usually composite team earned-run average, total wins, total saves and composite team WHIP Ratio (walks plus hits divided by number of innings pitched), and strikeouts are also often used.        
Step 7                Know your rules. For instance, if you're in a 10-team league, the team that finished first in a category earns 10 points, the second-place team gets nine points, third place eight points and so forth down to the last-place team getting one point. So the team with the most home runs by its 14 offensive players receives 10 points, while the team with the least number of home runs gets just one point. This system works for all categories, each of which have equal value, so the most points a team in a 10-team league with eight categories could receive if it won every category is 80 points.        
Step 8                The biggest headache for the commissioner used to be compiling team statistics. That was before the Internet, that is, and the development of stats services. Very few leagues currently compile their own stats. Your best bet is to search on-line or check out the ads in this magazine. You'll find that because of competition, the price can be very reasonable, or even free.        
Step 9                Transaction deadlines must be set. It used to be that leagues would use USA Today for their stats, so the week would run from the time USA Today ran its stats for each league on Tuesday and Wednesday. Now, most stat services run on a Monday through Sunday week, and many on-line services are flexible enough to allow you to determine when your weekly transactions must be made. Most often, it's Monday afternoon.        
Step 10                A player is eligible to be drafted at any position at which he appeared in 20 games or more during the preceding year. Because of this rule, Fantasy Sports Magazine includes games played at each position for every player who is analyzed in this issue.        
Step 11                If one of your players is put on the disabled list, sent to the minors or released, he may be replaced by a player who is unprotected by any other team. If Carlos Lee gets hurt or somehow gets sent back to the minors midway through the season and is replaced by Jeff Abbott, you could put Lee on your protected list and pick up Abbott as a free agent. But when Lee returns from the minors or the DL, you have to cut one of them for good.        
Step 12                Each league has to make decisions on how they want to play and for what price. We do not recommend you play for money; think of the $260 figure as a form of Monopoly money. But a league traveling trophy is a good idea, so that at least you have something concrete to play for.        
Step 13                Don't get too complicated with your rules. For starters, we recommend that you don't include any more statistics than the eight proposed, although runs and strikeouts are also used in many leagues across the country. Those eight categories will give you a clear indication of the better team.        Another bit of advice—if you want to play fantasy sports in the future, plan on being on the Internet. That's where the game is headed, although many services provided stats that can be faxed or mailed, and those leagues can be just as fun. Finally, keep it simple and have fun. That's the entire groundwork you'll need to start a fantasy baseball league. We hope this will help you get a league started. Soon you'll find out what more than 4 million fantasy baseball fanatics have been enjoying for the last decade.        
Other sports and fantasy formats including various fantasy settings, such as those set forth above, are described herein, disclosed in the Background section of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/869,831, and/or are known to one of ordinary skill in the art.